TAKASHIMURAKAMI(b. 1963)Superflat Monogram (White); Superflat Monogram (Black).Signed and dated "Murakami 03" on the reverse of each. Two works: acrylic on canvas mounted on wooden panel.39 ⅜ x 39 ⅜ in. (100 x 100 cm) each.Each executed in 2003.Provenance
Marianne Boesky Gallery, New YorkExhibited
New York, Marianne Boesky Gallery, Takashi Murakami: Superflat Monogram, April 11- May 10, 2003"[At the beginning of the 1990s], I was looking for a form that would express my originality, or let's say, that would make my name, so that my works could be sold in the art world as I then perceived it. But what was my identity? The answer is that I didn't really have one" (Takashi Murakami in a conversation with Hélène Kelmachter, Paris, p. 73)

It is safe to say that Murakami has, without a doubt, found his identity. And in the late 1990's, early 2000's he exploded on the contemporary art scene; reverberations of which are still being felt today. His rapid rise to fame and international acclaim has enabled him to usher in an entirely new generation of young artists working in a multitude of media. Murakami's own oeuvre is highly diversified and crosses the boundaries between fine art and commercialism. He seems completely comfortable whether it be creating large scale commissioned projects-such as his installations in New York City's Rockefeller Plaza or Grand Central Station - painting scenes of his manga based creatures Mr. DOB, KaiKai and Kiki, or producing items for mass production and consumption on the retail market. He recognizes the importance of the Fine Arts and the techniques involved in their production, but at the same time has a very firm grasp on the consumer driven market that is dictated by popular culture and the mass media.

"Business art is the step that comes after Art," Andy Warhol wrote in 1975. What he meant was that he was abandoning the idea of the artist as alienated creative individual to run his studio as an enterprise turning out a range of products marked by a recognizable visual style and signature.

In 2002-2003, reknowned fashion designer, Marc Jacobs was in the midst of designing a collection for Louis Vuitton with the idea in mind of remaining true to the nature of the company's monogram but at the same time updating it's look and keeping it contemporary with the times. Subsequently Jacobs made the decision to invite Takashi Murakami to re-work the Louis Vuitton monogram and update it in a way that he knew only Murakami could. The result of this partnership was remarkable and proved to be a resounding success for both the designer and the artist.

"I invited Takashi Murakami, a wonderful, wonderful artist, to come and collaborate with us. Restudying the classic Louis Vuitton monogram, which up until now existed in one color brown and gold. And now it exists in 33 colors on white and black... it's really something quite explosive" (Marc Jacobs on Takashi Murakami taken from the Louis Vuitton website).

Concurrently with his designing accessories for Louis Vuitton, Murakami created paintings depicting the same colorful logos on black and white backgrounds. In the spring of 2003 the New York's Marianne Boesky Gallery mounted and exhibition of these works. The exhibition, entitled "Superflat Monogram" included the works comprising the present lot. in this exhibition he might have been seen as paying tribute to the Pop master, Andy Warhol, by hanging sets of images, identical but for color, that evoke Warhols "Flowers" in different colors and dimensions or his Campbell's soup cans. These colorful canvases succinctly capture essence of the Murakami-Jacobs-Vuitton experiment.